Recently, we highlighted intelligent virtual assistants as one of the four most recent trends in the assistive technology industry because of their ability to reduce many barriers to accessing mobile technologies for individuals with physical disabilities, vision or hearing loss, and intellectual disabilities.

An intelligent virtual assistant is a software that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) with a human-like interface. Elements include voice response that simulates conversations and integration with different applications and platforms to create a virtual identity that users can interact with.

Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana, Amazon Alexa and Samsung's Bixby all have the same function but offer different features on different devices. Each service continuously adds new and innovative features to keep up with the competition, and now, each service offers hands-free activation with a voice command - a must-have feature for Tecla users.

Application: the Google Assistant app offers a separate interface to ask the same commands and is an easier way to discover features.

Protect your information: You choose what to share with your Google Assistant. If you ever ask your Assistant for help from other services, you stay in control of the information that you share by managing or deleting your past conversations with your Assistant at any time.

Here is a list of the various commands that Google Assistant can perform and you can experiment with.

Samsung Bixby

Image Source - (Flickr/Kārlis Dambrāns)

Availability: Galaxy Note8 and S8, currently available in 200+ countries.

Hands-free command: "Hey Bixby"

Notable features:

Bixby Vision: Focus on an object through your viewfinder, tap the Vision icon and instantly launch into a mode that identifies landmarks, translates foreign languages and allows you to shop an item online.

Access the settings of your device with voice command

Handle more complicated tasks: e.g. opening an app in split-screen view or rotating a photo.

One of our favourite people, Todd, has been using Siri in conjunction with Tecla for a few years. Learn more about his internet enabled home and how he uses Siri here.

Do you use one of these intelligent virtual assistants? If so, leave a comment below of the favourite things it does for you.